


After

by Radiolaria



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Dialogue-Only, Gap Filler, Gen, Headcanon, Not Beta Read, meta-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-08
Updated: 2013-01-08
Packaged: 2017-11-24 05:25:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/630914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radiolaria/pseuds/Radiolaria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At some point, Rory understands - he wonders if Amy does - what River is to them, what they will never be to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After

**Author's Note:**

> Set after the God Complex.

“I am a bit... perturbed.”

 

“Are you? Damn, you are.”

 

“Amy, please. Do you realise the implications of Melody being Mels being River?”

 

“I do. I shared with her things I would never have dreamed of even implying to my own mother. This is disturbing. No wonder River overshares so much. We set the standard pretty high.”

 

“Yes. Well, I wasn't thinking about that part. I want to forget that part. I meant to say, Mels' pretty reckless, bordering on the insane...”

 

“Was. She's River Song now.”

 

“Is she? The Doctor expects us to leave her on her own because she is River Song, but no, she's still Mels. She needed us in Leadworth. Suddenly, she stops being mock-the-death and behaves, really? She has no lives left.”

 

“She won't kill herself, she is not crazy.”

 

“But she is! She is not gonna start acting...”

 

“She will be alright, we travel with future River, remember, she is alright. She is, well, pretty quickass, even if still daredevil as hell.”

 

“She is in prison!”

 

“Not that it changes her from her Mels days. Do you remember the time she repainted the cell wall in bright blue, TARDIS blue obviously, and claimed it as hers since she spent so much time there?”

 

“Good God, don't you understand, it is your daughter who did that? And blew up the loo in the canteen, and jumped from the bridge in the river, and hijacked the Thanksgiving parade, and organised a picnic on a crane, and beat to the pulp Crib's gang and killed Mrs Grayle...”

 

“Accidentally.”

 

“I don't care! She is our daughter and she... She's completely unbalanced. Damn, the thought of her on her own, all those times.”

 

“We were with her! That's the point of Melody being Mels...I don't get what's your problem with the whole situation. Yeah, I miss Melody. I wish we could have her, I wish we could raise her, I so want to... But River...”

 

“Stop it, not what I meant, it's not her fault.”

 

“No, it's not. Don't make me say what I never said. It is like she has taken her place, that's all. I am not ready for an adult daughter.”

 

“I know I'm not ready to take the whole of her. I can't face or stand what she is.”

 

“You lost me, stupid face.”

 

“I... I am quite the coward when it comes to comforting that much of a mess. Her life is so... Do you realise she confided in me?”

 

“What?”

 

“Back then in Utah, in the underground. I think, she spilt her guts, in front of me, and I did not understand at the time. It makes sense now, of course. But then, I remember thinking... Well, she told me about having her life back to front with him, the Doctor, and about him knowing her less and less every time. And I remember thinking, she must be incredibly alone, because she must love him, quite awfully, and to have him forget her and where is her family, where are her friends since she chose to disclose that to me. I was no one to her. But now, I get it, we are her family, and then I did not know her, I wasn't there for her, so it's all the same, her life is back to front with his as much as it is with ours. In the end, we were not there when she was Melody, did not know her as Melody when she grew up to be Mels, are not here when she turns into River, won't be parents to future River, because it has already happened and because, obviously, she's River Song. How do you parent River Song? We can't change it. She is always alone.”

 

“She has the Doctor. And us, now that we know. Who's to prevent us from spoiling her, even if not in a parenting way? It must get better at some point.”

 

“Does it? Is he really worth it?”

 

“Don't. You know the answer. And shut it, you're depressing me. It's her choice. Had she wanted it differently, she wouldn't even have consulted us to travel and zip her life back together. Her choice. And when he knows her less and less, at least he's there. That's how she clicks. My girl. Please never forget me, stupid face.”

 

“I will always come for you, even when you don't remember me. Oi, that hurts.”

 

“I will always remember you, in the end, even when you keep dying.”

 

“Oi! That was very melodramatic.”


End file.
